The New 'Far Cry' Box-Art Just Leaked Online And It Doesn't Look Great

As always, take the below image with a grain of salt. This is the leaked box-art for Ubisoft's new off-year Far Cry game, apparently called Far Cry: New Dawn. It could be a fake, but I suspect it's the real thing.

Far Cry: New DawnCredit: Ubisoft

The box-art and title were leaked hours before The Game Awards ceremony goes live (you can watch the livestream right here.) Ubisoft was supposed to reveal the game during the awards and likely still will, though with some of the wind taken out of the announcement's sails.

Judging by the original teaser trailer that Ubisoft dropped yesterday, this appears to be a game set in the same fictional Montana as Far Cry 5, only several years after that game's devastating ending. Hence all the weirdness in this box-art, from a crossbow that shoots buzzsaws to a couch in the middle of a field and a car stuck in a mound of dirt.

In any case, compared to the very cool looking trailer yesterday, this box-art just feels like a dud. The cinematic was gorgeous and made me want to know more about the game. The box-art here is cartoony, with pink lettering and goofy looking characters.

Recall the striking Last Supper image that Ubisoft used for Far Cry 5's box art:

Far Cry 5Credit: Ubisoft

While both images are oversaturated, colorful and over-the-top, the Far Cry 5 box art is far more evocative and intriguing. Maybe New Dawn is meant to be another silly Blood Dragon-style entry in this series, but even then I find the image bafflingly ho-hum.

I will admit, I can't tell if the two black women on the couch are good guys or bad guys. If they're good guys, then they're rather sadistic protagonists, tying up a guy (a cultist perhaps?) for target practice. If they're bad guys it's far more interesting, but my gut tells me they're not. Maybe there are no good guys or bad guys, just rival factions doing terrible things to one another in order to survive. We'll know soon enough.

(Note: People are telling me they're probably bad guys, so hey maybe that's the case! Good if so. Also, while I'm not sure if this is the case, others are pointing out that the tied up guy looks like the Father, Joseph Seed, the main villain from Far Cry 5. If the two women are the bad guys does that mean we play as Seed, the bad guy from Far Cry 5? If that's the case, well that could be really interesting and somewhat troubling. I guess, if nothing else, this box art has us speculating and talking about it. Perhaps it's more than meets the eye, after all.)

One weird thing about Far Cry 5 was just how inclusive the doomsday cult at its center was. It was a multi-racial militia despite Montana being largely white and despite the fact that most rural militias are whiter still. Even so, the game was all but bereft of the largest minority group in Montana: Native Americans. As a Montanan, I'm a little disappointed to see New Dawn feature a white guy and two black women on the cover when it could have featured a Native American protagonist (or villain) instead, and made up for the unfortunate lack of Native people in Far Cry 5.

But the racial and gender makeup of this box art is largely beside the point in the end, at least in terms of marketing. It's just really uninspired artwork that does nothing to make me excited for this game. I'm glad it's not just another rehash of the tough white guy with a big gun, but this isn't any better. Hopefully the full reveal has more going for it.

What do you think? Is this cover art any good, or are you just sitting there pining for some more Blood Dragon. Here's that game's excellent box art:

Blood DragonCredit: Ubisoft

P.S. The game could still be great. I'm not trying to say the game itself will be bad. I just think the cover art isn't great.